Life of a Hero
by SightlessDreamer
Summary: Shibuya needs a savior, and when danger comes calling, he answers readily. Out of the darkness walks the hero, but who will save the one who always saves everyone else? NaruXMai
1. Hero's Encounter

The moonlight paled against the streetlights of Shibuya. She crouched on a rooftop, watching the very occasional passerby, trespassers in the peaceful darkness.

She kept a wary eye on the building across from her, having been tipped a couple days ago by an anonymous source that the new big fuss in town would be busting a bank heist. And of course, she wanted to be the first one there to scope out a potential rival, and this may be her only chance, since he tended to avoid everyone and everything.

He called himself the Raven, and the girls from school had spoken of him nonstop since his first public appearance, daydreaming about being saved by him (though why they would want that was questionable, since you first had to be in danger to be rescued) and forming fan clubs for the newest hero.

She knew that the appearance had been unavoidable after a fiasco with the police a couple weeks back, because being known as a hero was a hell of a lot better than being hunted as a suspect and criminal. She herself tried to avoid as much publicity as physically possible, since the smaller amount of people actually knew what you looked like, the less chance your enemies had of knowing how to find you.

She rubbed her hands together and blew on her fingers through her gloves, hoping to restore some warmth to her freezing digits. It was barely February and bitterly cold, her breath coming out in white clouds through the cloth she used to cover her face. The conditions may have been bearable if only they'd had snow this winter, but wouldn't you know it, no such luck. The fact that it was a clear night didn't help.

Movement from across the street caught her eye. It wasn't the Raven, she knew he'd be as stealthy and careful as she herself was being, but it was the robbers he was in theory coming to bust. Her source had been right after all, so she was going to have to use them again.

She reached up and hooked her harness to the zip line that she'd secured earlier, which would also serve as her way out of the building. It was as level to the ground as she could make it, and if she didn't push off hard enough, she'd end up stuck in the middle of the street like a sitting duck.

As she flew silently across, she kept an eye on her surroundings for any onlookers, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Mentally, she cheered, since the first time she'd done this she'd forgotten to look around first and had almost been caught. Reaching her destination undetected, she unhooked herself from the line as soon as her feet touched the ground and rolled soundlessly into a crouch.

Gathering the folds of her cloak around herself, she moved towards the roof access door like a shadow. She'd been thorough with this one, making sure the hinges were oiled and that a small, nearly invisible piece of cardboard blocked the locking mechanism. Simple, but it was easily explainable as a child's prank if it was found.

The stairwell was dark as pitch after the bright lights of the city, so when she closed the door behind her, she stood there letting her eyes adjust. When she could see at least the outlines of the stairs, she proceeded down them slowly until she reached the second floor. Sound carried easily, so she was very careful to move slowly so as not to trip and alert any lookouts they may have. The door to the second floor was as well oiled as the one on the roof and didn't make a sound as she turned the knob and pushed it open.

As soon as she stepped into the corridor, she heard the arguing. Grinning, she listened to the would-be criminals berate each other for one thing or another, like not bringing for flashlights, rope, etc. She moved over and settled into her chosen spot behind the railing, which looked out into the large open area of the first floor.

The usually brightly lit chandelier sparkled as the beams from their flashlights swept around the room, not one coming close to her hiding spot. The night guard lay prone on the ground near the far wall, and she frowned as she closed her eyes and sent her awareness out to the men below. The guard was thankfully still alive, though when this was over he'd wake up with one hell of a migraine from whatever drug she saw clouding his aura.

Turning her attention to the other men, she saw with relief that most of them weren't the kind to kill unless their own lives were in danger. Their auras were muddied with agitation, but none of them were even close to pulling any extravagant maneuvers brought on by adrenaline. The other two men were quite different, almost opposites of each other.

The aura of the man she guessed to be the ringleader was dark and had a soiled feeling to it, the aura of a man who had killed without remorse and would do it again. The other was a blank, unmoving wall, meaning he was either extremely mentally disturbed, or a strong enough psychic to block her probing with a mental shield.

She opened her eyes and peered down at the last man. He was tall, with a somewhat slight build that somehow managed to look strong and capable. She couldn't see his face, as it was covered with a ski mask. Oh, how original, she thought dryly. He was wearing all black, standard cliché robbers clothing, and the hood to his sweatshirt was pulled up.

He stood there, not moving around anxiously like his companions, but rather just looking around. He would occasionally turn, his eyes roving over everything and she shrunk back when they moved over her hiding spot. Even with the dim light from the flashlights, she could see that they were a bright, unclouded blue. This man was definitely not mentally disturbed, and she'd bet anything that he was, in fact, the Raven.

If it weren't for hours of mental training, she may have made a sound as a feeling of elation filled her. Here was a worthy opponent, resourceful and smart, taking apart a bank robbery from the inside. She would never be able to pull it off, with her being a girl and all.

Everything she did, the whole not talking and always wearing loose clothing and a cloak to keep her feminine curves hidden was to keep up the farce that she was a man. It was the cloak, which people had taken to be her signature distinguishing feature, which had earned her the name that she proudly bore.

She turned her attention to the leader of the group as he barked some orders at the men. The explosives had already been set up and everything was ready to go. This was puzzling, because if things were all set up, why weren't they starting?

As the man pulled out a gun and motioned the rest of them against the wall, her eyes widened in understanding just as the thick blanket of fear rose through the room to hover around the ceiling. Even the man she suspected to be Raven seemed surprised, so this was clearly not part of the plan that had been discussed between them. The leader would kill them all, blow the safe, and take everything for only himself.

She stood up slowly, her hands grasping the railing. She moved along silently until she was directly behind the man with the gun. By now, all the others were lined up along the wall with their hands up, waiting for their execution. With a jolt, she met Raven's eyes as she swung up onto the railing. How long had he been watching her creep along? She shook the thought off and crouched on the railing as the man brought his gun up and aimed at the first accomplice.

Raven pushed the man out of the way as the shot rang out and she jumped, landing lightly in a crouch behind the gunman. She kicked out with her right leg at the back of his knee and ripped the gun out of his hands when he fell to the ground.

She swung her new weapon up as she lifted herself into a standing position, seeing that, as she had suspected, Raven was standing a few feet away with a gun of his own, pointed at her chest. She calmly leveled the weapon at his own chest and met his piercing blue gaze without blinking.

They stood there like statues for a moment, while the robbers looked on with shocked expressions on their faces. Then, he did something that surprised her, though later she'd look back and respect him for doing the smart thing.

His aim never wavered, but apparently he had decided that he would rather not have to deal with a rivalry at this time.

"Truce," he said, looking at her. "This isn't a time to be at odds with each other." She nodded and brought her gun down first, as a sign of her agreement. Sticking his own gun back into a holster on his belt, he turned to the men who were now cowering against the wall, recognizing just who had come to their rescue. As Raven knelt next to the men, she looked for the man she knocked to the ground and cursed herself for not knocking him unconscious.

She looked around, spotting him standing near the bank vault. He was holding the bomb in his hands, preparing to throw it. He had seemingly given up hope of attaining the money and was determined to take the building down instead. She watched as he threw it up onto the second floor, over the railing.

The explosion seemed to happen in slow motion and she watched the rail blow apart and a couple of the columns crumble as the ceiling cracked. She dodged a piece of stone that rained down and switched her gaze to the man. Was he insane? If the building came down while they were all in there, he would be trapped too.

An arm wrapped around her bicep and pulled her out of the way of a larger piece of the ceiling as a voice near her ear said, "Snap out of it, we need to leave." She looked around to see Raven behind her, his blue eyes brimming with seriousness.

The damage to the building was worse than she had thought. She could smell smoke from where something must have caught fire in the explosion. When she looked back, the man was gone. This was the least of her worries though. Her way out on the zip line was now useless, so she'd have to find another way out.

She grabbed the first two men she came to on her way to the glass door of the front entrance. She paused, contemplating about the thickness of the glass, then lifted the gun she still held in her hand. Beside her, she saw Raven do the same and they shot the glass at the same time, as if they'd planned this out.

She glanced sideways at him as the glass fractured and they kept shooting as the main alarm started blaring. When the glass finally shattered, most of the upper floors were on the verge of collapsing, so she dropped her gun and they shoved the men out in front of them. She was about to follow when part of the ceiling just behind her fell, narrowly missing her, but pinning her cloak to the ground.

As she tugged on it furiously, she saw Raven run out the door dragging the guard, who now had blood running down his forehead, out with him. More chunks of masonry fell around her as she kept trying to free herself, cursing quietly. Suddenly, a hand with a knife flashed out at her.

She reeled back, hampered by her cloak as the man from before advanced on her. She raised her arms, her forearms protected by metal guards painted a matte black. The next slash glanced off of them, resulting in sparks and chipped paint and her falling to the ground. He was stronger than she'd thought.

There was a loud crash as the third floor came down in the middle of the room, distracting both of them. Suddenly, the man flew backwards as a fist crashed into his jaw. His knife was snatched out of his hand and used to saw through her cloak just above where it was caught. She thanked her lucky stars that she had extras and looked at her rescuer, eyes widening as she saw that Raven had come back for her.

He reached out a gloved hand to help her up and she took it without hesitation. He glanced at the man, who had fallen unconscious against a piece of the ceiling. They each took one of his arms and dragged him out as the building came down around them, making it hard to see with so much stone dust in the air.

They left him tied up across the block, in full view where the police would find him when they showed up. Flames were started to lick curtains of some of the windows of the floors that were still partially intact, smoke and rock dust making it hard to breathe and making her grateful her mouth was covered. She looked over at Raven, and satisfied that it was finished, they parted with a nod, each of them melting into the shadows.

**What do you think? I thought this up on a five hour bus ride, so I may have been a bit sleep deprived while writing... But write a review and tell me what you think :D**

**~SD  
**


	2. Hero's Meeting

**How was the first chapter? Review and let me know for any other ideas about busting crooks ;D**

Mai yawned, turning over in her bed. There was a very annoying beeping coming from somewhere to her left, but she was too tired to tell it to shut up. Then her eyes flew open as she realized it was her alarm clock. Groaning, she turned to look at it, noting that she only had an hour before she had to leave for school.

She had somehow slept through forty five minutes of loud, annoying beeping. She eased her sore body into a sitting position and ran her hand through her hair.

Throwing her covers back, she slowly slid to the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching out her sore muscles as she did. Last night, she'd barely had enough energy to take a shower, but now she was glad she had. Every visible part of her had been covered in clinging white dust. The upper part of her face had looked like a ghost, all white and pale, with dark circle under her eyes.

She shuffled to the bathroom and inspected herself for any remaining dust. Her shoulder length light brown hair was tangled and her brown eyes were still clouded with sleep. No one looking at her now would think to associate her with the mysterious figure of the night, Shroud.

Turning on the water, she splashed some on her face. After slapping some color back into her face, she looked again. Now she looked a bit more like Mai Taniyama, cheerful, carefree high school student. She turned the water off and left the bathroom, heading next for her small kitchen. She set some water to boil for tea and headed back to her bedroom to get dressed.

The kettle was whistling by the time she was decent and had brushed the tangles out of her hair. She walked to the cupboard and pulled out her favorite tea cup and a few tea bags. They smelled of vanilla, which she loved. She placed the tea bags in the cup and poured in some water, turning the burner on the stove off as she did. Smiling, she sniffed the fragrant steam that rose from the cup.

After fixing her tea to her satisfaction, she gathered what she needed for school as she sipped from the cup. Stuffing it all in her bag, she finished her tea and put the cup in the sink, running water in it and leaving it for when she got home.

She glanced at the clock, seeing that she only had a few minutes before she had to leave. She grabbed her coat and walked out her front door, locking it behind her. She walked down the walkway to the stairs and ran to the bus stop, knowing that it came early on Wednesdays.

The bus was crowded, as it always was. She stood near the front, having learned years ago that if you stood nearer to driver, there was chance you'd get felt up. She kept a close eye on the rest of the people on the bus anyway. Any man harassing a young woman would find himself in pain and not knowing where to look for his attacker.

Fifteen minutes later, she was off the bus and walking towards her school, which was about two blocks away from the bus stop. She pulled her coat closer around her slight frame and shivered. There were frost flowers blooming on the sidewalk and they sparkled slightly in the early morning light. She walked faster, hoping to warm herself up while getting inside the heated building faster.

She sighed with relief when she reached the front door, the glass bringing back memories from last night. She grinned as she pulled them open, nodding at the students milling around the hall waiting for classes to start. She walked down the halls, dodging people as she went until she made it to her classroom. When she slid the door open, she blinked in confusion.

Everyone was gathered in a large group near the window and the sound of their chattering voices filled the room. She closed the door behind her and walked over, hefting her bag on her shoulder as she moved closer. It soon became obvious they weren't gathered at the window, but around one of the desks near hers.

The object of their fascination soon came into view as she raised herself onto the tips of her toes to peer over their shoulders. It was a boy, maybe a few years older than her, with black hair and a fair complexion. He was smiling, talking to the others, but the smile never reached his startlingly blue eyes.

He was handsome, enough so that some of the girls were already swooning at the sight of him. Mai, however, recognized him with a jolt. She sat down hard on her chair, squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head. It couldn't be him.

She peeked another look as the teacher walked in and the students moved reluctantly back to their desks. He looked exactly like Wraith, but she knew it couldn't be him. Wraith was always smiling, his eyes shining with kindness, and well, he was dead. This boy, whoever he was, was cold and emotionless. His eyes though, she knew those piercing blue eyes.

Her own widened a fraction as she realized that the Raven himself was sitting at the desk next to hers. She gulped and turned her attention to the teacher as he announced the arrival of a new student. She shut her eyes as he called on Raven, who then walked up and introduced himself as Kazuya Shibuya.

The day went on without much incident. Eventually, Mai got used to having her newest rival sitting next to her and decided that he wouldn't guess who she was if she went about like everything was normal. He did look exactly like Wraith though, so she was going to have to ask him about that tonight. She might finally get some answers out of him.

She had also decided that there was no way that Raven, or Shibuya-san, could be Wraith. He didn't even glance her way, and by now, if he was in fact Wraith, he would have sent at least a wink her way. After all, Wraith was her teacher and reason for becoming a 'Hero', as the crime fighters and protectors were known as.

By lunch, she was joking with friends and listening to the regular gossip, that is, until someone mentioned that there were reports that both Shroud and the Raven were seen working together at a bank explosion that had happened last night. They had apparently stopped a robbery, but there had been some kind of explosion and they had dragged everyone out, leaving the leader tied outside for the cops to find.

Girls from the fan clubs of both heroes have squealed at the thought of both the mysterious Shroud and the handsome Raven teaming up. Mai gulped and glanced at Shibuya, who didn't appear bothered at all. Self assured bastard, isn't he? she thought, a vein on her forehead twitching. Then he glanced over and she met his eyes. They held the look for one second, then two, maybe three, before he got a slightly confused look on his face.

She realized that he may recognize her from her own eyes, as she had him, and looked away, cursing herself. She forced a blush on her face and looked again, hoping he'd think she just had a crush on him, and blushed for real when she saw he was still looking at her.

It was then that she felt someone probe at her mental defenses, but she was more adept than he was at blocking people. Instead of a wall, she put out fake information about herself, hiding who she was under layers and layers of a false persona. It was, after all, what she was best at.

Wraith had taught her everything she needed to know about hiding herself. Apparently satisfied that she was just a school girl, he gave her another smile that didn't reach his eyes and turned back to the teacher.

**I'll update when I can and I'll try my best to finish this story. **

**~SD  
**


	3. Hero's Dilemma

When the school day was finally over, Mai heaved a sigh of relief. As she walked out the front entrance, she glanced behind her. Shibuya-san was surrounded by people vying for his attention; girls, boys, even a teacher or two wanted to impress the handsome new student who had proven himself way too smart in Mai's eyes.

When the door was shut, she sighed again, glad to be out of the noise.

"You know what they say about people who sigh like that." A voice said from behind her. She spun around to see a woman with long red hair leaning against the wall next to the door. She eyed the woman nervously, searching her memory for some spark of recognition, knowing she had seen her somewhere before.

"W-what do they say…?" She asked nervously. The woman pushed back against the wall, propelling herself towards Mai. "They say that they're in love~" she said, winking. At that moment , Mai realized who she was.

Ayako Matsuzaki was the new school nurse and was known for three things. One, her professional, sometimes stern behavior when it came to injured students. Two, her impeccable fashion sense, which she gave the young ladies advice on sometimes whether they wanted it or not.

And lastly, her somewhat odd sense of humor, sneaking up on students and poking fun at them out of nowhere. Mai laughed faintly, even more nervous now. She knew next to nothing about this woman, and had only seen her in the school halls. She tried her best to stay out of the nurses office since she didn't want any injuries she came by while 'working' being found.

Matsuzaki-san walked up and nudged Mai in the ribs. "So, who's the lucky boy, eh? It wouldn't be that new student, hmm? Love at first sight." She sighed, standing there with a dreamy look on her face.

"Ah… I'm sorry Matsuzaki-san, I have to get going now." She grabbed my hand, dragging me away from the school. "You know, I like you. You remind me of a slightly younger me! Cute and delicate, and I bet you're quite fiery too. And please, call me Ayako."

Despite what Mai felt might be her better judgment, she found herself warming to the cheerful woman.

After spending some time with Ayako, discovering that she enjoyed her company immensely, Mai headed back home with several bags hanging from her arms. Over several hours, they had bonded considerably and Ayako had insisted that she had more money than she knew what to do with, so she had taken Mai clothes shopping, ignoring her protests. As she unlocked her door and shouldered it open, she heard a faint sound from her living room.

She put the bags down as quietly as possible and crept towards the end of the front hall. It was no good trying to go completely undetected, since if there was indeed a person there they would have heard her come in. She peeked around the corner to find a tall, back haired boy a couple years older than she was lounging on her couch, reading.

With a sigh of relief, Mai stepped out into the bright light of her living room. "Yasu, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?" Instead of replying, he held up a lock pick kit and his newspaper. She groaned, now knowing exactly why he was here. "It wasn't my fault ok? I couldn't just let those guys die."

"First give me the whole story, every juicy detail" His glasses gleamed as the light hit them just right. He was planning something horrible, but I told him anyway.

"Hmm... Maybe we can make this partnership work. IF, you can get the Raven to agree. It's not like you can't be partners and rivals at the same time." Mai just looked at him like he was crazy

Osamu Yasuhara, fondly referred to as Yasu by his friends, was her source of information about everything, not to mention her adviser. He made sure that she always knew if there was an upcoming heist or sometime where she couldn't avoid a public appearance or where she should avoid one. He had also been her best friend all through high school, which admittedly wasn't too long, but they were still close and he was only one to whom she had confided it about everything. Even Wraith had thought it was a good idea.

"Do you have a brain or empty space between those ears?" She said, with just enough humor in her voice to let him know she was joking. Then she turned serious. "You didn't miss the part where we were thinking about shooting each other, right Yasu?"

"But that's the beauty of it! If you work with him, you can see how he reacts to things. All you have to do is do the same thing over and over and he'll come to rely on the fact that you always act the same. And then, when he's least expecting it, POW!" He accentuated his choice of words by getting up and swinging his fist in an exaggerated motion. "You knock his lights out when things have quieted down."

"Aren't you always the one telling to think of the citizens think of me? How are they gonna react when I'm partnered to one of their favorites and then turn around and stab him in the back?" She sat down heavily in one of her chairs.

"Well, then... Hmm... Oh! We get him to initiate the partnership and then manipulate him into sabotaging it himself. He's got to be thinking of this himself, I mean he's had to have heard of what the papers said. If that's so, then you guys can put on an act for the people and still have your little rivalry in private." He settled back into his seat as he spoke, picking up the paper he had been reading and acting as if it were already settled.

Mai could see no way out of it, so she slumped in her seat, sighed and asked, "So when do we do this?"

He looked up with a mischievous grin. "Tonight."

**So what do you think? I'm having some trouble in deciding who some of the others should be. I've got Yasu, Ayako, Lin, and Gene figured out, but I can't decide whether either Bou-san or John should be a teacher. And have no clue about Masako, but there has to be some rivalry between her and Mai over Naru eventually XD**

**And remember, reviews are my bread and butter :3 I love them so much!  
**

**SD  
**


	4. Hero's Truce

As Mai slipped quietly through the dark streets of Shibuya, she reflected back on how odd her life had gotten. She'd only just gotten used to the idea that she was actually considered a superhero and that her teacher was a dead guy that she had dreams about. She stopped at the mouth of an alley and pulled her cloak closer to her.

It seemed even colder tonight than it had been before, if that was even possible. She was careful to avoid any puddles as she started out again after making sure that the coast was clear. Any standing bodies of water, big or small, had frozen solid back in January. While most of them ones on the main streets had been cracked and were easy to see, the puddles on these back roads were smooth as glass and hard to see in the darkness.

Away from the streetlights, the moon shone brightly, lighting up the few small clouds that scuttled across the sky, propelled by an invisible breeze. She climbed up a fire escape on the side of a building, pausing her ascent every time it creaked. If she were to pass unnoticed, she would have to be careful.

Once she was on the roof, she stopped and looked around. Raven's supposed 'hunting' route would cross hers near here, so it wouldn't look like she'd been looking for him if they met. This was a pretty big if, though. Yasu may have been studying criminal justice in order to become a police officer, but even he had somewhat limited resources of information.

She looked around for a high vantage point and shifted her weight from foot to foot. It wasn't as if she didn't risk her life every time she did this, but she had seen him in action up close now. He was cold, ruthless, and efficient. He seemed to have a conscious, which was a relief. If there was a chance that he didn't feel remorse, there was a chance of him going bad.

She hopped a couple rooftops, having to take running jumps for some. Directly in front of her was the apartment building that she usually used when she was scouting. She leaped across the alley three stories below and grabbed onto the fire escape on the other side. The first time she'd done this, she'd been so scared of falling that she was visibly shaking. Now, after almost half a year of doing this, she felt at ease with the jump.

Once she had safely clambered to a platform, she started to silently ascend. As she rose higher, she could see parts of the streets between the buildings, the streetlights making her pause to adjust her vision.

She was just climbing up the ladder when she heard the sound of someone walking on the concrete, the tell-tale thump of a footstep, the skitter of a kicked stone. She inched her head up over the ledge to find a tall someone with their back to her. She lifted herself up as quietly as possible and moved away from the edge a couple paces, so they couldn't knock her off if they turned and attacked her.

The figure stood silhouetted in the moonlight, looking out over the city. The wind picked up, moving an icy breeze through their hair and making her cloak swirl around her legs. She crossed her arms and waited.

"There's a problem" The sudden sound of his voice startled her. He must have seen her coming up the fire escape and been aware of her standing behind him. He turned around, confirming what she already knew. The Raven was wearing his traditional outfit of black skin-tight clothing and a bird mask, from behind which glittered his very blue eyes. The mask hid his whole face, covering his mouth when he talked, but left the back of his head bare, save for the strap that held it in place.

He apparently knew that she would say nothing. It was part of her persona, after all. "Everyone thinks we're working together, _partners_." he spat vehemently. "Well let them think what they want, but I don't work with anyone, not-" He stopped himself, probably before he said something private. She wondered if he'd had a partner before this, and if he had, what had they been like?

"We will not have any public hostility," he said reluctantly, like all he wanted was to strangle her. He was obviously just taking out whatever anger he had about the situation on her. "But let me make this clear. If you get in my way, I will remove you from my path. Permanently." With those words, he reeled around and walked swiftly towards the edge of the roof, anger clear in the way his back was set as he moved. He bent swiftly to pick something up; a rope, it looked like. he clipped it to his belt, and with one last contemptuous look back, he jumped.

Mai ran to the edge to find him swinging away towards a rooftop down the street, the rope having been secured to the corner of the apartment building. Absently, she wondered about his behavior, and how his family and friends, if there were any, dealt with him on a daily basis. She shrugged and moved away from the edge.

* * *

The boy known as Kazuya Shibuya paced on a rooftop many blocks away from his silent trouble maker. He was angry, only allowing himself to show it because he was safe behind a mask and no one was here to see. He cursed himself for blowing up at Shroud like that. He should have known better, should have controlled himself. And almost letting a vital piece of information slip past his lips? What would his brother have said?

If my bother were still alive, he thought bitterly. He had come to this country, adopted a fake name, enrolled in a public high school of which he was far beyond the educational curriculum of, just to look for his brothers body. The first thing he had done was to check all the morgues in the area that his brother had been known to be in. That had taken months, and by that time it was clear that there would be more time spent on this.

He had invented a new image, based around his original alias, the Ghost. He and his brother had roamed the streets of London undetected, known merely as a myth. Here in Japan, it seemed that 'heroes' were a common thing.

He scoffed at the foolishness of being known as a hero as the roof access door opened behind him. The man who stepped out to meet him was tall, and his bangs had been allowed to grow out and were swept to the side in a way that looked almost careless, but Kazuya knew it was anything but.

"Lin... This person, Shroud. They could present a problem with our progress in the future." He threw an annoyed look at the quiet man. It had been his idea not to fight it out with Shroud, but rather to warn him. He'd get a warmer reception from the people of this city if he wasn't publicly set against their little savior.

Lin said nothing, but he didn't need to. With one last look at the city, they both walked through the door.

**So many amazing reviews! I'll be combining them, I think, with an idea that my sister had. I especially want to thank Just Sumone and Amethyst for the incredible input. **

**SD  
**


	5. Hero's Naming

After their confrontation, Mai had roamed around the city with an almost aimless intent. It was a quiet night, something she was usually grateful for, but this time it just gave her more time to think. She had returned home, out of the cold, to a few hours of blissful, albeit dreamless, sleep.

* * *

She walked into the classroom to find everyone already there and the teacher close behind her. "Taniyama-san, another minute and you would have been late." Her teacher gave her a stern look, at which she nodded resignedly and went to her seat.

There had been a hold up on the bus route from her house, so it wasn't really her fault for being late. She glanced at Kazuya, who seemed unaffected by everything that had happened. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say he was zoned out in his own little world.

She pulled out her notebooks, hoping to distract herself from having to deal with thinking about him. She'd have to tell Yasu how the whole thing went after school anyway, so she might as well try to have some peace of mind before then.

First session passed in a blur, and then second. Since her schedule changed depending on the day of the week, her next class was music. This was her favorite subject, since there was always laughter and sound and liveliness. It also helped that the teacher was one of the best in the school (in her opinion).

Houshou Takigawa was a tall man who looked to be in his late twenties. This was very young for a teacher, she knew, but he was extremely good at his job. He wore his long bleached-blond hair in a ponytail and was what most of the girls considered to be their ideal image of 'cool'.

He was a very talkative and open man, often telling the students about where he grew and how he was at their age. His parents had apparently owned a temple on Mount Koya, so he'd grown up in training to be a monk. However, he'd been fascinated by music and had left the temple to join a band, which he was still in.

He was the most easy-going out of all the teachers, letting everyone call him Bou-sensei or Norio, which was his band name. He was also on first name basis with all the students who took his class, but was careful not to drop the honorific unless they were alright with it.

"Ah, Mai-chan! Guess what came in the mail yesterday?" He winked broadly and she grinned. During her time at this school, she'd become fast friends with him.

"Anything I should be worried about, Bou-sensei?" She shrugged her school bag off of her shoulder and and plopped it into a chair before walking over.

"Unless you've suddenly developed an aversion to instruments since I last saw you, then no." With a flourish, he produced a long, thin box from a pile that rested behind his desk. "I believe this was the one that you ordered."

Her face lit up as she took the package and opened it, revealing a carved wooden flute. Every student was required to play an instrument for this class, but they were ordered by the school that they wouldn't have to lug them around the halls, to their homes, and back again. At the end of the year, they were allowed to keep them, since they had paid for them through the school in the first place.

She had initially chosen the flute because it looked easy, but soon discovered the difficulty of playing something that depends on air flow and hand position. She had gotten the hang of it eventually though, on one of the practice flutes.

She picked it up and placed it to her lips, blowing into it and playing a scale with only a few errors. It had a wonderful mellow tone to it that sounded almost close to a person singing. She hugged it her chest and grinned. "I just knew this model would be perfect."

Bou-sensei simply grinned back and turned away to hand out the rest of the class.

The period passed so quickly that it took Mai by surprise when the bell chimed. After putting her flute away, she moved out into the hall and was walked towards her next class when the badly wired intercom squawked through the speakers.

"*FZZZT*... Will all students please *fzzt* move to the auditorium for a previously unscheduled *fzZZt* assembly." Then the voice was cut off by some loud shrieking as it was turned off. They hardly ever used it because of it's condition, so they always tried to make sure that things were planned ahead of time.

When everything was quiet again, people started migrating towards the auditorium, which was actually just the gym. The large double doors were already open and a steady stream of student was moving through them. Once inside the huge room beyond, there were rows f chairs set up to sit on, all facing towards a slightly raised platform.

On that platform sat three people, along with two empty chairs. One of them was the principal, who was rarely seen except for assemblies and celebrations. Another was his daughter, whom he schooled himself privately.

Shito Hara and his daughter, Masako, were both renowned throughout the school for their ironic distaste for the public education system. More the father than the daughter really, since at least the younger Hara-san had a reason to not be on a normal school schedule. She was a celebrity.

She had her own TV show at the age of 16 about channeling spirits. Most people believed she was a fake, but Mai didn't think so. She would have respected her, if not for her attitude, which she got from her father, the few times they had met.

Hara-san's gaze was centered elsewhere in the room, unblinking and focused. Mai followed her gaze across the room to Shibuya-san and raised an eyebrow. She then shrugged and turned back to study the third person on the stage.

He was young, sitting nervously with his hands wringing around each other in his lap. He was obviously a foreigner, with bright blond hair and clear sky blue eyes. He was wearing casual clothing, and apart from his current nervousness, he seemed to expel a confident feeling.

Mai closed her eyes and studied him psychically. His aura was blue and bright green, shot through with yellow. All bright, pure colors that made her smile. However, when she opened her eyes, he was looking directly at her with a surprised expression on his face, all other movement halted.

She realized he must have felt her probe and smiled at him slightly as an apology. Not only was he somehow important to this assembly, but he was also a powerful psychic. How interesting.

As he smiled back, two more people came onto the platform. One was the vice principal, and the other was the kindly pastor from the local Catholic church. The pastor sat down while the vice principal walk up to the front of the dais.

"Ahem! May I please have your attention." The vice principal cleared his throat again and gestured to the pastor. "This is Father Tojo. He and one of his associates have volunteered to work with our school in order to provide some guidance for you young people."

Father Tojo and the blond haired boy stood up and stepped forward. "I am pleased to meet all of you, and I'm very happy to have this opportunity. My friend, John Brown, will be acting as your guidance counselor on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Please make him feel welcome." They both bowed and smiled cheerfully at the crowd.

The students clapped and everyone filed off the platform. Once they were gone, the room emptied slowly as people returned to their classes. Mai was about to exit the room herself when she found herself face to face with Shibuya-san. She stood there staring at him in surprise for a moment. "Like what you see? Everyone else does." he remarked drily. Her eyebrow twitched. Was he that self assured of his good looks that he assumed everyone thought he was gorgeous? Which he was, but that wasn't the point!

He smirked as he walked past her out of the doorway. That... That narcissist! She stomped a foot on the ground. From now on, he'd be Naru the Narcissist to her. She glared at his receding back for a moment before heading to her next class.

**I hope this chapter is satisfactory for everyone! I tried to combine the ideas that everyone had. Review and tell me what you think? Oh, I also have a robotics competition today (O: Info about the author), so wish me luck! We're going to need it...**


	6. Hero's Crush?

Over a period of several weeks, Mai confirmed that her suspicions were correct. Raven, or Kazuya (she refused to call him by his last name respectfully because he had been rude to her), was in fact, an extreme narcissist. He only seemed to enjoy himself, meaning he didn't seem quite as bored as he usually did, when he was surrounded by a group of chattering girls, who were all obsessed with his pretty face and flawless manners, both of which Mai saw through. It helped that he wasn't as skilled at hiding his true intentions and feelings as she was, at least in a non-physical sense. Yasu always said to her that that reading her face was like reading a picture book for kids.

They had only met a couple times during their patrols, and they treated each other with extreme disdain, never speaking to each other (she didn't talk anyway), and always sending glares. He was particularly good at glaring, something she figured was helped along by the fact that his deep, indigo colored eyes somehow seemed to pale and become icy cold, chilling the recipient of the glare to bone. Not the weather outside helped that. Lately though, it had been warming up. Spring was definitely coming.

How they treated each other at school wasn't much different on her part, since she not only knew that he was her rival, Raven, but because she had witnessed his pigheaded rudeness first hand _outside_ of his persona. What the heck was up with that?

She grumbled to herself, sneaking glances at his stupid, smug face. Let him think she had a crush on him, it made no difference to him. In fact, it might make for a better way for his to completely rule out who she really was, even if he was convinced, along with everyone else, that Shroud was male. She grinned maliciously, hiding it behind a text book that she was pretending to read. If she could bear to ask him out, sacrifice her pride long enough to feed his ego so much that he accepted, then keep it up so that he had her pegged for a silly school girl infected with puppy-love that had nothing but fluff between her ears, then _maybe_ she could sabotage him from this side of his life.

Of course, she thought with a frown, if he already thought she was like that, then there would pose a problem. If he already thought that of her, then he would already have her down as the type to watch from a distance, always longing, but never making the first move. In other words, the type that didn't interest him at all.

"-yama... Taniyama! OI!" The sound of someone shouting her name drew her out of her thoughts and she blinked owlishly. She looked up to find an annoyed English teacher glaring pointedly at her from the front of the room.

"Now that you're finally with us," the teacher ground out, "perhaps you can read for us the passage on page 112." Mai stood up hurriedly, almost dropping her book.

"H-hai, sensei!" She cursed herself for stammering like an idiot, then proceeded to read through the line of foreign words without thinking.

"'Do you think it's going to rain tomorrow?' asked the wood mouse to his companion. 'I certainly hope not!' replied the mole. 'I simply cannot stand the damp!'" It was only when she finished that she realized she was being stared at. Realizing her slip up, she like slapping herself. She wasn't supposed to know English so well! The only reason she did was because Wraith often slipped into speaking it, and had decided to teach her. By this time, she was passably fluent.

The teacher stared at her with wide eyes, as did many of her classmates. She couldn't, however, tell whether Naru was surprised, since his face was completely blank. He was also looking at her, however, which made her feel self conscious and agitated.

"V-very well then, you may sit down now, Taniyama-san." The teacher was the first one to regain her wits, and promptly turned to the blackboard. Mai sighed in relief and sank down into her seat, grateful to have most of the eyes diverted from her to whatever the teacher was writing. However, before she could completely settle herself, a comment in hushed tones from her right made her freeze.

"Maybe you aren't completely brainless after all." Her head whipped around and her eyes made contact with Naru's smug gaze. She felt her face heat up as the blood rushed to her cheeks, and could swear that she almost felt the steam shoot out of her ears. Her mouth opened to make a scathing comment, but at that moment, the chimes sounded for the end of school. She turned away, packed her things and left without looking at him again.

* * *

Kazuya smirked slightly to himself as he walked down the rapidly emptying halls. Getting a rise out of his seating neighbor was becoming his favorite way to pass the time away during the boring English classes. If he could, he would probably do it for all his classes, since he already knew everything, but unfortunately they didn't have every class together.

Still, her unexpected fluency in English has surprised him. Normally, he had to sit through horrid pronunciations and stuttering, but Taniyama's voice had been steady, her words clear, and it had almost seemed like she had a bit of a British accent. His eyes narrowed as he though back on it once more, but then he dismissed it. His initial reading of her during their first encounter had resulted in the usual, with an underlying sense of emotional pain. Typical high school girl. He assumed the pain to be from some bad break up or some such. Though he couldn't quite see why someone would break up with her badly. She didn't seem clingy like the others, and she was actually quite easy on the eyes...

He stopped himself from thinking anymore about it. He wasn't here to get involved with some girl. His mission was much more important than that. He was almost to the front door when he heard a loud smack. Turning his head slightly, he saw, to his surprise, that Taniyama was standing a ways down a branching hallway with a young man about his age.

He had a mop of straight black hair, which was currently mussed up from being hit over the head by the large text book being held by Taniyama, and large, round glasses that sat slightly askew on his face. Behind said glasses, mischievous gray eyes glared playfully at the girl. She was not nearly so calm as the boy was, however. Her face, what he could see of it, was flushed a bright red, and her stance was indicative of violence. However, there was a certain balance to her that made him wonder if she were some kind of dancer.

The second he stepped into the view of the boy, since Taniyama had her back to him, she stiffened. Another surprise for him. She seemed to notice his presence a few moments before the boy did. Interesting...

He chalked it to up to the crush she appeared to have on him, pausing to smirk at her as she turned. They did say that you were always hyper-aware of the presence of the person you had feelings for. The boy straightened up, revealing himself to quite tall; perhaps taller than himself. As Taniyama sputtered angrily, still apparently riled up from his comment during class, the boy swooped forward gracefully. Kazuya was instantly on his guard as he approached.

"Oh my!" The boy exclaimed. "Mai, you simply haven't given enough credit to his features! Why, I think I've fallen in love with you right here and now!" The boy grabbed Kazuya's hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips over it softly. Kazuya didn't know what to think about this, and simply stood, his eyes a millimeter wider than normal.

Taniyama stomped up behind the boy and gave him another whack over the head.

"Kn-knock it off, Yasu! Stop being weird!" Her blow seemed to have had no effect on the boy, who's name Kazuya's brain registered must be Yasu. In fact, all he did was straighten up, still holding his hand, and turn to Taniyama.

"My, how rude of me! Did you want to be the one in my position, Mai? Or perhaps," he said, dropping Kazuya's hand, "You'd rather I say those things to you?" He spun around and swept the frustrated girl off her feet, then dipped her down low in a classic motion like the end of some kind of passionate tango or waltz. However, short skirts were not quite meant for that pose, and Kazuya got a glimpse of her underwear before looking away. He wasn't able to stop himself from letting out an amused snort, however. What kind of high school girl wore pink underwear patterned with teddy bears?

Taniyama's eyes, which been glaring at Yasu, instantly snapped to him. When she realized what he had laughed at, her face turned an interesting color and she flailed about, shouting at Yasu to put her down. He did so by simply letting her go, resulting in her falling to the ground and cursing while he merely smiled at her. Kazuya was just glad that most of the teachers had already left, or someone probably would have noticed all this commotion by now.

Taniyama stood up and sent a red faced glare his way, and he was once again struck by an odd sense of familiarity. Of course, it could be that she glared at him almost every day in class...

That though was pushed out of his mind as he watched Taniyama berate the older boy like a mother hen. He ruled out the probability of them having some kind of romantic relationship, since they seemed more like close friends than anything else. Yasu was pointedly ignoring her, instead sending suggestive glances towards Kazuya, who glared back at him bemusedly. Here, it seemed, was someone who liked riling her up as much as he did.

Taniyama seemed to interpret the glances as meaning he was still going along with farce of being attracted to him, which just made her even more angry. She glared once more at Kazuya, then grabbed Yasu's sleeve and stormed off.

* * *

Only when she was safely in her own apartment did Mai turn to Yasu and glare at him menacingly.

"Since when, in the period of time since I told you about _his_ identity did you decide it was OK to act like a fool in _his _presence!?" she said, with a deadly calm in her voice. Yasu stood there, smiling at her pleasantly, waiting for her bout of anger to pass. They both knew that she could never stay mad at him for long.

Sure enough, the worst of her annoyance with him passed within a couple minutes. She sighed, letting out all the hot air that had been building up on their way to her apartment building.

"He's probably gonna think I have such a big crush on him now." She moaned miserably into her hands. Yasu laughed lightheartedly and she raised her face enough to pout at him.

"Well, it's not like he's not attractive. I mean, even if I was acting I could still see why a nice, sweet, _innocent_ girl like you could fall for such a handsome face." He grinned devilishly at the term 'innocent' and she groaned again. They were rivals for Kami's sake! She couldn't have him thinking she actually liked him _that_ much!

"You know," she said, not looking up, "Before that happened, I was considering sabotage from this side of life, but now everything's been messed up, thanks to _somebody_." She shot a halfhearted glare at him before dropping onto her couch and letting her muscles relax so that her arms and legs were laid out in a sprawling manner. Yasu sat down beside her, carelessly pushing aside the limbs that were in his way, then re-positioned them so that she was comfortable.

She grabbed the remote for her small television and turned it on, flipping some news channel. On the screen, Yasu's father, a well known detective, was making a statement about a small robbery that might have been connected with a series of other, random thefts that had happened in broad daylight. All efforts to identify the perpetrator had been unsuccessful.

She sat up straighter and looked at Yasu. The reason that he was her main source of information was because his father often consulted him about the cases he was working. Despite his ridiculous actions, Yasu was something of a genius when it came to tactical situations and research.

"Has your father mentioned much about these robberies to you, Yasu?" One of her eyebrows lifted, disappearing into her bangs. He shook his head, still looking at the television.

"No, but I know that something's been up. He's been working very late nights recently." His tone was indifferent, but Mai hear the underlying worry in his voice. She smiled softly and ruffled Yasu's hair, earning a bright grin from him.

"Well, what do you say about having our good friend Shroud help him out, eh?" she said with a grin.

* * *

**Ok! Just an update on recent happenings:**

**#1: I've been having a bunch of trouble deciding where to go after the Urado chapter, so... I've decided to cut that one out for the time being and focus on furthering my story line more! I didn't really like the way I had written it, either! But rest assured, it'll come around again when I'm more prepared for it!**

**#2: I've lost a bunch of my inspiration lately cause I've been having relationship problems... Clingy ones T_T**

**#3: School is almost over! So hopefully, once certain things are _resolved_, then I can start writing more! And for all of those who are waiting on another chapter for Ghost Cops, it's coming! I promise! And if you haven't checked it out, please do so :D It would make me happy!**

**So, in short, please let me know what you think about this different path I took in a review! Because reviews make me a happy author!**

**~SD**


	7. Hero's Game

Mai yawned as she walked into the classroom a few minutes before the end of class. She had gone out the night before to try and track down some leads on the robberies, but whoever was orchestrating them was really good at covering their tracks. There had been a small amount of action though, as she had had to rescue some girl from a mugger with a gun. He'd gotten a shot at her, but it had only been a graze. Even so, thanks to him she'd had to bandage it up and that meant less time for sleeping when she got home.

The unwelcome sounds of squealing girls met her ears and she groaned. The sound was emanating from one of the back corners of the room, and as she sat down at her desk, completely ignoring the smirk Naru was giving her, she tried not to listen to them. Or at least, she did until she heard her name in the mixed jumble of chatter. Not her actual name, but the name of Shroud being shouted from across the room.

She glanced over at the small gathering of girls, then at Naru. Other than his mouth being pulled in a slightly taught line, he looked fine, but Mai could tell that he was displeased with hearing his rivals name mentioned in the classroom. She chuckled tiredly.

"What's wrong Naru, are you jealous of Shroud, just like all the other guys?" She smirked at him as his eyes focused on her. However, instead of a mocking look of annoyance or some kind of smirk, his eyes were widened, almost imperceptibly, in a look that resembled... surprise?

"Where did you hear that name?" he hissed, his eyes narrowing slightly at her. She laughed nervously.

"So other people call you that too, huh? Naru for Narcissist." She let out another sound that could have been taken for a laugh, as the expression on his face relaxed back into it's normal stoic set. She wondered why he had taken it like that? Ah well, she thought. It's not he'd tell me, anyway.

"I refuse to allow you to call me that." He looked her dead in the eye, but she wasn't all that fazed.

"Sorry, but no can do!" she said cheerfully. "From now on, you're Naru-chan~!" She laughed as one of his eyebrows twitched slightly, happy to have something that could get under his skin. When his expression relaxed into a faint smirk though, she stopped and watched him warily.

"Very well, _Mai-chan_. Oh, you don't mind if I call you that, do you _Mai_?" His voice was cloying and very, very irritating. She knew that if she complained, though, that she'd just be giving in to what he wanted. She huffed and turned away, refusing to look at him and instead turned her attention to the conversation that the girls were still having.

By the time the teacher arrived, Mai had discovered that it was in fact one of her classmates that she had rescued last night, and for some reason, she found this quite amusing. What would that girl say if she knew that the very person she was going on about was in the same room, listening? And not that, but they were actually a girl?

She snorted, amused, as the group broke up and went back to their seats. One of the girls who was walking past to get to her desk, shot her a look.

"Just because you don't think that Shroud and Raven are the gods that they are, doesn't mean you have to be open out it in front of us, Taniyama-_san." _The girl hissed before sitting down. Naru raised one of his eyebrows at this.

"You don't like the 'heroes'?" he asked, giving her a sidelong look.

"I just don't find them all that great or _attractive_." she whispered back, knowing that his narcissistic nature wouldn't like that blow to his ego. "I mean, what's the point of finding some one good looking if you've never seen all of their face? For all you know, they could be _ugly_, or _disfigured_." She laughed to herself as Naru gave her a contemplative look. _  
_

"And what if at least one of them were good looking?" They were speaking in hushed tones now, since class had actually started. The teacher paid them no mind, though.

"Well then, I guess I'd want to know about their personality. I mean, if theirs is anything like yours, then Kami help us all!" With that, she stuck her tongue out at him and turned to the front of the room.

* * *

A few days later, while walking home from one of Bou-sensei's concerts, Mai found herself cursing her luck. Here she was, being backed into a corner by a large, rude, pig-like man, who had obviously had too much to drink, and she couldn't do anything because of the risk of being found out.

Before this, her night had been great. She, Yasu, and two of her good friends, Michiru and Keiko, had all been invited by the music teacher to his concert the day before. They'd had a good time, dancing and listening to the music, and then had gone their separate ways to go home.

And of course, she was just _lucky_ enough to be confronted by _this _guy outside a bar. She ducked as he clumsily reached for her, his words slurring into a mess that she couldn't even begin to understand. She tried to slip past him, but he tripped, falling on her and pinning he to the ground. She let out a frustrated yelp as the air was knocked from her lungs. Unfortunately, he wasn't unconscious, and as he reached for her she squeezed her eyes shut.

Suddenly, the crushing weight on top her vanished. Her eyes shot open as the man was thrown clear across to the other side of the alley, landing in a pile of garbage. A dark figure moved around in the shadows, them came into the light to check that the guy was still alive. Her breath caught in her throat. She had just been saved... by Raven?!

Apparently satisfied that the man was just unconscious, Raven turned around to look at her. When he saw her face, however, he froze. His body, which she could see very well, and in detail thanks to that skin tight outfit of his, was tense. She knew that she must be gaping at him as well, but she hoping he'd think it was because she was seeing a hero.

"Th-hanks..." she stuttered out, hoping that it would enhance the desired impression. At this, he seemed to overcome his surprise at seeing her. Then he did something that shocked her; he bowed to her. Her jaw dropped as he straightened up and looked at her, his blue eyes almost luminescent behind his mask.

"It was no problem. In fact, I'm glad I could help such a pretty young lady." A blush rose to her face. Even though she could practically sense his smirk, wasn't he laying it on a bit thick? Or maybe, just maybe, he was trying to prove her wrong about what she'd said to him about his personality. His voice was even pitched an octave lower so that she wouldn't recognize it. Well, she thought, two could play this game!

"I-it was so scary!" she cried, hiding her face in her hands and letting her fake sobs shudder through her frame. "Thank you s-so much!" She looked up at him with all the gratefulness she could muster. Then, as an added measure, she let herself sway as if her legs were weak, then collapsed. As she expected, he rushed forward and caught her.

For a moment, she allowed herself to relax into his strong arms, her eyes closing as she told herself that it would make it more convincing. She heard him curse softly and had to work very hard to keep the grin off of her face. Then, he hoisted her limb body up so that he was carrying her princess-style. Another blush rose to her face (for some reason, she wasn't having to fake those), and she let her eyes flutter open as her head rested against his shoulder.

"Where do you live?" he asked, "I'll take you there." She mumbled some vague directions to her apartment building, then let her head fall back as she pretended to lose consciousness completely.

* * *

Raven sighed as he carried the girl through a dark maze of backstreets which he was confident would lead to where she said her apartment building was. He hadn't been expecting to see her in downtown Shibuya this late at night, nor had he thought that he be rescuing her at some point. After he'd gotten over his initial surprise, however, he'd decided to prove her wrong about her comments to him a few days prior.

Even though she was mostly weight, she wasn't very heavy. He found himself glancing down at her repeatedly as he walked. There was something about the unguarded restfulness of her expression that kept drawing his gaze. He caught himself about to look and forced his eyes to focus on the path he was taking. It was no good thinking about things like that. Besides, Lin would have his head for this if he found out.

He stepped out onto a dark street and looked up at the tall building in front of him, smirking. Only a couple months of living here and already he could find his way around to almost anywhere he wanted to go. It was pretty late by now, and none of the lights in the building were on, so it would probably be easy to sneak inside. Then, realizing she hadn't told him which apartment was hers, he cursed to himself.

Closing his eyes, she sent his awareness out to the building, searching for the place where her aura would be strongest. His eyes shot back open and he smirked as he pinpointed the location, an apartment to left of where he was standing on the second story.

Getting into the building was going to be more difficult. For that, he'd have to use his PK, and he knew he'd pay for it later. He always tried to do everything he could with just his physical abilities, but with an unconscious Mai in his arms, that wasn't really an option.

He walked up to the main door and stood in front of it, closing his eyes and concentrating. It was difficult, considering the locking mechanism was inside the door, but about a minute later he heard a click and he gave the door a push to open it. He made sure that it had closed and locked behind her him, then made his way to where he thought her apartment was. Sure enough, her residual aura was think enough for him to follow to the correct door.

Getting into the apartment was easy, since it was a standard lock. It didn't take more than a few seconds it to click and for the door to swing open.

Inside Mai's apartment was not what he expected. Sure, he'd figured it would be well kept up, but there was a surprising lack of, well, girlishness He crept along, sweeping the area for any other people that he might make up, but there was no one, not even her parents. He gazed down quizzically at the girl in his arms. Did she really live all by herself? What would have happened if he _hadn't_ been there to save her? This girl really was an idiot.

He sighed and made his way to her bedroom, noting the pale yellow walls, the simple furniture, the plants. She appeared to like plants a lot, since there were at least two or three pots in her living room and several on her balcony.

Her bedroom was painted the same color as the living room, with white curtains and white sheets and blanket on the unmade bed. There was mirror hanging on one wall, with photographs tucked into the edges. Her closet door stood open a bit, but it was too dark to see inside. There were a few articles of clothing littering the floor, but nothing that could be considered a huge mess.

He laid her down on the bed, being careful not to jostle her head in any way, and then, as an after thought, pulled her blanket on top of her. Then, he turned and walked smoothly out of her room. Maybe she'd remember that he saved her. He smirked, thinking about the look he'd see on her face when she admitted that he was actually quite charming. He walked over to her balcony and slid open the door, preparing to leave.

* * *

The next morning, when Mai walked into the classroom, she had a carefully schooled look of dreaminess. She ignored Naru as she sat down, setting into a dazed silence. This was, of course, completely an act. She had been aware of everything the night before, including the gentleness with which he had covered her with her blanket. That actually made her shaky, for reasons she couldn't pinpoint.

After she was sure he was gone, she'd gotten up, thought about everything she'd learned about him, including the fact that he was a PK user, then set her alarm and gone to sleep. When she'd woken up, she'd formulated her plan.

Since using his powers would probably tire him a great deal, she figured he wouldn't have enough juice left in him to bother her like he usually did. So for today, she'd play the quiet game and pretend to be preoccupied about the night before. Then, when he had recovered enough to start poking jibes at her again, she'd act as if she had a thing for Raven since he'd saved her. And then she'd see where it went from there.

She smirked inwardly. Time to start the 'Play with Naru's Head Game'.

The boy in question was seated next to her, as per usual. He looked tired, but he was sneaking glances at her. Based on his actions, she figured that he'd be ready to play by tomorrow.

* * *

**Yay! Another chapter! Ok, for all of you who've read this before, and are really confused, go read the previous chapter and the author's note! It'll explain everything!**

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!**

**~SD**


	8. Hero's Rescue

The moon shone down upon the rooftops of Shibuya, with no clouds to block it out. Mai stood on the corner of one of the taller buildings, her cloak billowing out around her. She was lost in thought, thinking up ways to further the game she was playing with her rival, without him even knowing. She was so busy thinking, in fact, that she didn't hear the telltale sounds of footsteps, nor did she sense his approach until the last minute.

She ducked and whirled around, ending in a crouch as she looked at him, her eyes narrowed at his outstretched hand.

"Hmmph," Raven said, "I was wondering how close I could get to you before you noticed. Losing your touch a bit, aren't you?" She could hear the smirk in his voice and her eyes narrowed to slits. She sprang into motion and was behind him in an instant. Of course, he had turned with her motion, anticipating what she would do. She had to admit that he was good.

However, she thought as his hand came down in chopping motion, she was better. She had the benefit of being able to study his movements almost every day. She easily blocked his attack, though the strength behind it jarred her arms, and directed it over her head, using his strength again him and neatly throwing him behind her. She could tell from the slight widening of his eyes before he'd gone flying that he hadn't expected it.

She turned and settled into a wary crouch as he lay on the concrete, stunned. Then, he swiftly stood and marched towards her, emanating a malevolent aura. She stood and quickly backed away, but he sped up and caught a handful of her cloak in his fist.

"Where did you learn that?" he hissed angrily. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. Had he recognized the move? She had learned it from Wraith while he had been training her. Had he known Wraith? Perhaps the reason why he hadn't expected it was because Wraith was dead.

She realized with a sinking feeling that perhaps there was a reason they looked so similar. Only twins could be that close in regards to their looks. Suddenly, her eyes opened wide in shock. Could it be? They were roughly the same age, and they both had the same blue eyes, though Wraiths were gentler.

He must have interpreted her expression his way, because he shifted his hold to around her throat and lifted her into the air, cutting off her air and shaking her.

"I said, where did you learn that! How did you meet him, where, and when!?" His eyes, normally impassive, were full of rage and she feared that he might just throw her off the building. She brought her hands up and gripped his forearm, her lungs screaming in protest.

Suddenly, the roof access door creaked open and they both looked over to see a tall man in a trench coat walk out. His hair was cut so that it was shorter in the back and his bangs covered one of his eyes. His was, if possible, even more stoic that Naru usually was, and Mai wondered if this was perhaps his partner or teacher. He certainly looked capable, she thought as noted the strength in his shoulders and the smooth way that he moved.

"Raven, let him go." His voice was deep and commanding. Naru's grip loosened around her neck, setting her down so that her feet once again touched the ground, and she drew in a grateful breath. But then, with a wrenching motion, he grabbed her cloak again and tore the material off of her to reveal the outfit beneath. She wore loose, flowing gray clothes that were more like robes that anything else, with and additional hood attached to the top portion. Her hands were covered by black gloves she wore flexible, comfortable black boots.

Naru simply dropped the large piece fabric at her feet, glaring at her in contempt, then turned away without a word and disappeared with the tall man through the roof access door.

* * *

At school the next day, she could tell he was in a bad mood. He only barely glanced at her when she sat down next to him and grunted when she said 'good morning'. She scowled. If anyone should in a bad mood, it was her. After they had parted the night before, she had raced home and went straight to bed, but Wraith had refused to come and answer her questions in her dreams. Not only that, but she was forced to wear a stupid scarf because he'd left bruises on her neck when he had nearly strangled her!

He was quiet all through the day and he promptly disappeared when school ended. She presumed that he was going to go brood over Wraith, who she was now convinced was his dead twin brother. Not that he didn't have a reason to brood over it. Losing ones family is a hard thing to live through, that she knew through experience.

Yasu met up with her after school, like always. He stared pointedly at her scarf and wouldn't leave her alone until she'd taken it off to show him the bruises underneath.

"I swear, if he touches like that again, I'll... I'll..." he ground out, his face livid. Mai wasn't sure whether to flattered that he was willing to take Naru on in a fight for hurting her, or whether to be terrified. She'd never seen Yasu angry before.

"Whoa, calm down! It's not like he did any lasting damage. Besides, it's Friday and I have all weekend to heal up, right?" She smiled at him, hoping to ease his temper. His mouth opened to say something else, but someone interrupted them.

"Excuse me, but what needs healing up?" The voice was mild and soft, with a bit of an odd accent. Mai turned to see the priest who was acting as their part-time guidance counselor. _Oh crap..._ Mai turned bright red as her hand rose, unbidden, to her neck. The priest gasped and rushed over, tilting her chin up when he reached her so that he could have a better look.

"How did this happen?" he asked, horrified. Mai's tongue felt heavy and she couldn't come up with a good excuse. Yasu, however, seemed to have recovered.

"She has an abusive boyfriend, sir." Mai's eye twitched. Boyfriend? Yeah right. The abusive part was pretty spot on though...

The priest looked at her kindly, with a bit of sadness in his eyes. It was then that she remembered what had happened when she met him, her mental probing and his reaction to it. Her eyes looked searchingly into his. He stared back and seemed to recognize her.

"Oh! I remember you from the welcoming assembly." he gasped. Then he smiled.

"Yeah..." she mumbled. "Sorry about that, by the way. You just have a very relaxing aura. Kinda drew me in." Her eyes lowered as she said this, embarrassed by her lack of manners from that time.

"Think nothing of it. In fact, I'm surprised to find someone like you here. Pleasantly, of course." He laughed lightly.

"Of course." She, smiling as well.

* * *

After talking some more with the priest, who had formally introduced himself as John Brown, from Australia, he had insisted that she go see Ayako before she left. He also offered to accompany her, so she couldn't exactly say no. Yasu, having regained his good spirits, had winked at her and headed home before Brown-san had taken her arm and led her to the nurses office.

Ayako was sitting at her desk, playing some game on her computer when there was a knock and the door slid open. She seemed surprised to see Mai, but even more surprised to see her with Brown-san. After taking one look at the bruising on her neck, she'd gone into something like a doctor mode and ordered Mai to sit down while she got an ice-pack.

Mai had had to explain her whole fake predicament to Ayako, who looked more and more angry with every word. When she was done 'explaining', she sat is silence as Ayako fussed over her. That is, she did until the door slid open once more and Bou-sensei walked in. Ayako immediately stiffened and glared at him, while he grinned at her in a relaxed manner. Mai wondered why he was even there.

There was a suffocating, tense silence before Brown-san decided to try to break the dour mood.

"Ah, so... Taniyama-san, about this boyfriend... what do you plan to do about it?" he asked, trying to look like the death glares that the two other staff members were giving each other weren't bothering him. Bou-sensei's eyes flickered over to Mai and took in the bruising.

"Oh hell..." she muttered under her breath, but apparently the young priest heard her, for he suddenly looked shocked. She smiled apologetically and motioned with her head over to where Bou-sensei was beginning to make a loud scene, arguing with Ayako. After the first five minutes of the conversation, the main topic, which had been her bruising (which for some reason Bou-sensei had blamed Ayako for because he claimed she should take better care of the students), was forgotten as they switched to calling each other various names and cursing profusely.

Mai watched in an amused silence as the two adults bickered. If she didn't know any better, she'd think they had a thing for each other. Smiling, she shifted herself off of the chair and thanked Brown-san quietly for his help, then excused herself with one last look at the loud couple.

Outside the school, she re wrapped her scarf around her neck and shoulders and started to walk. It wasn't really that far from the school to her house, but she didn't even make it as far as the school gate.

"Mai-_chan_..." A sugary sweet voice interrupted her progress, and she turned with a groan.

"Is there something I can do for you, Tadahiko-san." she grumbled, looking at the older boy. He was taller and passably well-built, with dark brown hair and eyes that looked nearly black. He wasn't necessarily bad looking, but she didn't really care for the way he acted. Unfortunately, he seemed convinced that she was his type, and vice versa.

"How many times have I told you, call me Hikaru." He pouted in a way which she figured was supposed to be cute, but dropped it when she glared at him pointedly. Instead, a grin slid onto his face and he sidled up to her. He held her ground, not sure what his motives were, but confident he wouldn't try anything inappropriate in the school grounds.

He stopped close in front of her as she glowered at him, reaching a hand up to touch her scarf. Before she could stop herself, she knocked his hand away and took a step back. His eyes narrowed and he began to stalk forwards.

"You know, Mai-chan, I don't like when a girl plays hard to get..." he said in a low voice. She cursed inwardly at the luck she was having to today. Everything lately just seemed to go exactly the opposite of what she wanted.

"Who said I was playing? Please leave, Tadahiko-san." She gritted her teeth as her back came into contact with a tree, and before she could move around it, he had pinned her there with a hand on either side. One of the hands moved to tug at her scarf, while she reached up to try to rip it from his hands. This soon turned into a struggle of which he had the upper hand, being much taller.

Suddenly, one of her arms was grabbed out of nowhere and she was yanked to the side into something hard. She stumbled and caught herself against a solid column of black cloth, the same kind the male students wore... She looked up to see Naru glaring at Tadahiko, never loosening his grip on her.

"It's impolite to continue advances on a lady who obviously doesn't appreciate it." His voice was clipped and hard, with just enough edge to it for her to tell that he was angry. Tadahiko took a long, hard look at him and decided that it wasn't worth getting his ass handed to him, then turned and stiffly walked away.

Naru finally released Mai's arm and she stepped away from him, staring unabashedly. He looked back at her, unblinking, before turning away and walking towards the gates. She shook herself out of her surprise and ran after him.

"Hey! Why in the world did you do that?" she called after him. He stopped walking and turned towards her slightly, causing her to almost collide with him.

"If you would rather he continue assaulting you, then I'm sure you can always call him back." His voice was scathing and he sent a glare her way. Well, someone was obviously still in a bad mood. She scowled at him.

"That's not what I meant." She looked away from him. "... Thanks." She heard him let out a breath, which she took to mean that he had gotten over his annoyance with her.

"Just don't act so vulnerable, idiot. You make yourself an easy target." With that said, he continued to walk away. She stood there, anger slowly seeping in as she digested what he had just spoken. She had thanked him... And then he insulted her?!

"Naru, you JERK!"

* * *

**Yay! Another chapter so soon! Are you happy? Are you? :D I did my best to correct any errors in the last two chapters, but feel free to let me know if I missed anything. I did write them last night while I was super tired. **

**So tell me, am I keeping everyone in character? Aside from Yasu's blowout in this chapter of course, but I did that for a reason. Let me know what you so far in a review!**

**~SD**


	9. Hero's Death

Raven, otherwise known as Naru, crept forward in the dark, straining his ears to be able to hear the muted conversation taking place ahead of him. He was in a museum, and he was supposed to be interrupting a robbery. He'd gotten side tracked when he'd detected Shroud's presence, however. It still infuriated him to think of the man. Well, the boy. His stature was far too small for him to be fully grown, though it probably helped his balance immensely.

The boy in question was currently laying unconscious on the ground, having been caught like an amateur. He had grudgingly realized that if he wanted to know anything about the whereabouts of his brothers body, then he would need this detestable fool. Which meant that for the time being, he would need to be rescued.

The two criminals were standing over Shroud's body, arguing in hushed tones about what to do with him. The bigger one simply wanted to make sure he was dead, while the smaller, and crueler, of the two wanted to torture him first. Naru sent his awareness out to the prone figure on the floor, then shrank back as he encountered a black void that threatened to pull him in. His hands curled into white knuckled fists. Another one of his brothers tricks that this scum just happened to know.

The two trespassers seemed to have decided, and they both moved forwards to pick up Shroud. Before they could touch him, however, he exploded into motion, knocking them to the ground simultaneously. Both of them ended up unconscious as a result, and Shroud stood up smoothly. Naru rose out of his hiding place as well, his eyes narrowed in something that could have been appreciation for Shroud's ploy.

Shroud didn't seem at all surprised to see him, and stood there watching him warily, one gloved hand at his throat. Naru was overcome a small wave of something he'd never felt before- Guilt. He knew one thing, and that was that he never wanted to feel it again. He cleared his throat.

"I won't do _that_ again as long as you don't provoke me." he said shortly. Shroud simply gave him a look as if to say 'Well you're the one who tried to kill me in the first place'. He sent a glare in his rivals direction, simply to have it be returned ten-fold. It seemed as though the smaller male was still angry at him. Well, let him be angry. He wouldn't be the one to apologize.

He had turned and was starting to walk away, not really paying attention, when he heard the sound of a gunshot ring out, followed by a grunt of pain. Hie eyes widened in surprise as he saw _another_ group of criminals who had apparently come to rob the museum on the same night as the two behind him. Lin apparently hadn't heard about these ones, since he was the one who had tipped him off about the robbery in the first place. His mind wandered for a moment, wondering how Shroud had know about it, but then his eyes focused on the man in front, who he assumed to be the leader. It seemed as though he had only gotten one shot off, and he didn't give him a chance to do any more.

He rushed the group, which scattered like cockroaches under a flashlight. The leader stood stock still, like a deer frozen in headlights. It was a simple manner to knock him out and go after the rest of the would-be robbers. He left Shroud behind to deal with the original men.

It didn't take him very long to dispatch the others, but when he got back to the original site of the scuffle, all he found were tied up men, a large piece of Shroud's mantle, and a copious amount of blood.

* * *

When Mai walked into the classroom the next day, she moved carefully and gingerly to avoid jostling her shoulder. She had spent a grueling half hour the night before trying to dig the small piece of metal out of her flesh. What a way to spend a Sunday night, huh? She hadn't been able to find a comfortable way to sleep, either, so she had stayed awake all night. At least, she thought as she moved along, her bruises were gone.

She was careful not to act too differently around Naru, since he was sure to have noticed that she had been injured. If the small cry she'd let out hadn't been an indicator, she was sure that her wound had bled a great deal. Even so, she moved more stiffly that normal and her face was pale and drawn. Naru noticed immediately when she sat down.

"You look like hell." he said, giving her once a over. She instantly bristled.

"Well, if you must know, my neck hurts from the way I slept last night, and I think I'm coming down with a cold." she snarled at him, muttering a quiet 'jerk' under her breath. He seemed to accept her explanation and proceeded to ignore like he usually did; except when he needed entertainment, of course.

Mai turned her attention to the group of girls who were, as always, huddled in the corner. Today, they were strangely quiet. Some were even sniffling and had tears rolling down their faces. She quirked an eyebrow at them. What was wrong with them now? Naru's level voice shook her from her thoughts.

"Didn't you hear? According the newspaper, Shroud is dead." Her mouth dropped open and she gaped at him. Dead? How the hell had they come up with that? Sure, she'd been hurt, but there was no body to confirm her death!

"They say that the other hero, Raven, brought out his bloody cape and handed it over to the police." he continued, smirking slightly at her reaction. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"What, glad to have some of the competition removed?" She bit the words out, pissed at him for making people think she was dead. Oh, she'd show him. Then, a second later, she regretted her words. What if he didn't understand that she was making a reference to one of their past conversations? What if he figured out that she knew who he was? A cold bead a sweat ran down her spine.

"No, I'm not glad he's dead, if that's what you're implying." He scowled, or at least, the corners of his mouth turned down into something that looked like displeasure. She was sure that for him though, it was a full blown frown. After all, the most expression she'd ever seen him convey was the night when he'd tried to kill her, and she hadn't been able to see anything but his eyes then.

"And why's that?" she asked, suddenly interested and very relieved. She'd been under the impression that he hated her caped persona. But if that was so, then why did he seem disappointed?

"No reason." He sent a sidelong glance at her, then turned his attention to the teacher as they walked in.

School went as smoothly as it could have after that, and Naru didn't talk to her much until their last period, English. During her third period, which was music, her shoulder had begun to ache from holding up her flute for so long, and the pain was beginning to show in her disposition. Naru gave her a 'look' as she plopped herself into her seat, then hissed in pain as she instantly regretted the motion.

"Must have been one hell of a sleeping position." he said, his voice monotone, but a tell-tale smirk of his face. She took this to mean that he found her pain amusing. Her temper rose to nearly her limit and she had a hard time controlling herself. She knew how strong she was, and if she simply attacked him outright, then she would never be able to hold her own in her current condition. There was also the risk that he might recognize her fighting style.

She settled for sending him a poisonous glare and turning away from him, determined to ignore him. Instead, she thought of what to make of her current predicament. Everyone thought that she was dead. Hell, even Naru seemed to think she was a goner. Maybe though, just maybe she could use this to her advantage. She'd need Yasu's help to keep up with the crime in the city, but laying low for a while would give her a chance to play with Naru more, since her nights would be free for a while. She grinned and looked down at her book without really seeing it, plotting instead ways to mess with her rival.

* * *

That night, Mai sat at home and talked to Yasu over the phone conspiring about her plans for Naru. She'd use information that she got from her informative friend and place herself around mild crimes that Raven was sure to hear about and come to foil, but would have the least risk of her being in danger of actually dying or getting too badly hurt. This would go on for about a week, she figured. Then, she'd go to bust some big heist that she'd make sure he would be at, swoop in, and surprise him. Oh, the look on his face was going to be priceless.

Mai didn't know when their 'relationship' (if you could call it that) had taken such an amusing turn for her. Not for him of course, unless they were at school, because he seemed to hate Shroud. They had been talking more at school lately, though it was mostly arguing on her part and snappy quips from him that only served to make her even angrier.

When she was done with her planning, she hung up the phone and turned on her television. She knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep, since she was used to staying up until the early hours of the morning. She flipped through the available channels until she found an interesting-looking comedy, then laughed along with it for about an hour.

When it was over, she rolled her shoulder, testing it's soreness and how far she could stretch it. She had been very lucky this time. The bullet had missed anything super important and hadn't shattered her collarbone. Trying to get it out had been painful, but that had been the worst of it. If she were really lucky, it would only leave a small scar.

She got up and switched the television off, then walked to the kitchen to finish up her dishes from dinner. It didn't take very long, since she never really ate that much anyway, and when she was done she simply turned off all the lights. She knew her apartment well enough to walk through it blindfolded and not bump into a single thing.

She was walking to her bedroom when her breath caught in her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she had a dark figure standing on her balcony. She froze and slowly turned her head, letting out a scream when she saw it was still there. In a flash, the sliding door was thrown open and a large, gloved hand was pressed against her mouth, stifling her cries.

Her wide brown eyes met blue ones and she stopped screaming. God, she was going to kill him someday. Naru, or in this case Raven, removed his hand from her mouth warily, as if expecting her to scream again.

"W-what are you doing here?!" she whispered hysterically. He stepped back and took in her attire instead of answering her. Instantly, she brought her arms up and crossed them in front of her modest chest self consciously. She had been about to go to bed, she was only wearing a sports bra, panties, and a long shirt that came down to her knees.

"W-what are you looking at." she hissed, embarrassed, as she walked over to a lamp and switched it on. She could almost feel his smirk as he answered.

"I came to check up on you. I did rescue you, you know. That makes you my responsibility." He crossed his arms as well, standing up to his full height. She cursed herself for being so short as she turned to face him.

"Since when does coming to check up on someone include breaking into their house?" She could already feel herself relaxing after finding out it wasn't some burglar come to get her while she was weak, but turned it into something like shocked fatigue for the benefit of her game. Her legs trembled before her knees gave out. Naru caught her easily and picked her up in the same fashion as he had just a week earlier.

She blushed at the feel of his gloved hand on the bare skin of the backs of her legs where she nightshirt had ridden up as he carried her over to the couch and set her down. He looked at her intensely for a moment, before speaking.

"I wouldn't have had to come in if you hadn't started screaming." She scowled at him, the color already on her face darkening. She was about to say some scathing remark, but the words died on her tongue as he reached out and grasped her chin, tilting her face up. Her face felt unbearably hot and her eyes were glued to his. What was wrong with her?

He turned her head from side to side and studied her face, before dropping his hand and moving away from her.

"Well, you look fine." he muttered, heading towards her balcony.

"W-wait!" She didn't know who was more surprised by the sound of her voice, Naru or herself. She swallowed and stammered on. "Would you like s-some tea?"

He paused halfway to the door, and stood there in a contemplative manner. Finally, he turned and simply nodded. She scrambled off the couch and rushed into the kitchen, eager to be out of his sight, where she might make an even bigger fool out of herself than she already had.

She made the tea mechanically, her thoughts elsewhere. She was only jerked out of them when on her way into the other room the cup suddenly disappeared from her hands. She blinked, startled as the lights were turned back off.

"Hey, what are you-" He shushed her quietly.

"I have to take my mask off to drink this. Having someone know what I look like probably wouldn't be a good thing." he said. She could understand where he was coming from with that, so she shrugged and sat down. She could sort of see his profile in the dark, mainly because the pale skin of his face stood out in stark contrast to his black attire.

They sat in silence as he drank, and the only indication that he was done was the soft clink of the teacup as he set it down.

"So? How was it?" she asked, grinning to herself.

"It was... alright." he said awkwardly. It was obvious that he wasn't quite sure what to do in this kind of setting, so he settled for disappearing out her still open balcony door.

* * *

**I decided that my dear readers needed a bit of fluff ;D I also needed a way to introduce Naru to Mai's famous tea!**

** I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've been trying to balance out the filler with some action, though writing it is very exciting from my point of view!**

**Please write me a review! I love them and I get excited every time I read them! During the next couple chapters, things will really start to roll, so sit tight and wait for the next one ;D**

**~SD**


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